Ibn Arabi, Andalusian Arab philosopher (b. 1165)
Ibn ʿArabi (Arabic: ابن عربي‎) (1165 – 1240; full name: Muhyī al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-ʿArabī al-Ḥātimī al-Ṭāʾī al-Andalusī al-Mursī al-Dimashqī; Arabic: محي الدين أبو عبد الله محـمـد بن علي بن محمـد بن العربي الحاتمي الطائي الأندلسي المرسي الدمشقي; nicknamed al-Qushayri and Sultan al-ʿArifin), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influential within Islamic thought. Out of the 850 works attributed to him, some 700 are authentic while over 400 are still extant. His cosmological teachings became the dominant worldview in many parts of the Muslim world.He is renowned among practitioners of Sufism by the names al-Shaykh al-Akbar ("the Greatest Shaykh"; from here the Akbariyya or Akbarian school derives its name), Muḥyiddin ibn Arabi, and was considered a saint. He is also known as Shaikh-e-Akbar Mohi-ud-Din Ibn-e-Arabi throughout the Middle East. In medieval Europe, he was known as Dr. Maximus.He participated enormously in Sufi metaphysics. One of his major ideas is Waḥdat al-Wujūd (unity of existence).